277 votes
Accepted

Are these claims about Japan’s health system true?

The gist of it is true Health Care System in Japan "100% of Japanese people have their healthcare regardless of income" This is partially true. All are mandated to have coverage, but that ...
  • 11k
227 votes
Accepted

Do facemasks cause CO2 poisoning?

This is the meter used in the video: Note that the sensor is situated at the top, pointing upward. When the person in the video breathes out, the exhaled air will be directed into the sensor, but ...
143 votes

Will the healthcare premiums of a 64 year old making $26,500 a year grow to $14,600 under the GOP Health Care Plan?

This figure has been extracted from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report. Washington Post: According to the CBO, 64-year olds making $26,500 per year would see their premiums increase by ...
  • 137k
117 votes
Accepted

Does the US spend more public money (i.e. tax/capita) on Health Care than other developed countries?

Based on data published by the OECD, the claim that the United States spend more public money on health resources than other developed countries is true. The figures given there for the 35 OECD member ...
  • 9,102
116 votes
Accepted

Does the Red Cross sell $2.1 billion worth of blood annually?

I assume this is referring to the American Red Cross, because that is where Cracked.com is based. Note also that describing the Red Cross as "a business" is somewhat misleading. It is a foundation. ...
  • 137k
103 votes
Accepted

Do doctors "get more money if somebody dies from Covid”?

Can anyone explain what trump is claiming here ... What Trump was claiming is something that has been claimed multiple times since the onset of the novel coronavirus pandemic: That doctors and ...
  • 14.3k
81 votes

Does wearing a face mask cause intermittent hypoxia?

This study has way too many problems to draw such a conclusion. It can only be taken as an indication that it may be worth further study, or may corroborate or contradict other, more carefully ...
  • 1,349
79 votes
Accepted

Do 643,000 Americans go bankrupt every year due to medical bills?

Snopes has already tackled this. Using some very specific analyses, one could make the case that (at least within the last several years) about 643,000 Americans declared bankruptcy annually due to ...
  • 56.7k
66 votes
Accepted

Did The Lancet publish an account of a woman who did not age?

It seems that we don't know, but probably not. What we have here is a notable person claiming without a reference that a peer reviewed journal supposedly reported on what many might consider a miracle....
  • 3,836
66 votes

Do 643,000 Americans go bankrupt every year due to medical bills?

But more striking is the fact that all of these other countries supposedly have no one going bankrupt from medical bills. Are these claims true? Not for Canada. There's a claim on this site -- ...
  • 3,031
63 votes
Accepted

Are obese patients in the US commonly sent to zoos for CT scans?

A 2011 literature review looked at the problem as it related to one particular condition: Difficulties in diagnosing pulmonary embolism in the obese patient: A literature review. They conclude that ...
  • 137k
60 votes
Accepted

Did millions sign up for association health plans after President Trump's executive order?

No. This is indeed a reference to an executive order, but the regulations related to it aren't in effect yet. Trump is referring to an executive order, mentioned above, but it has no force in law ...
  • 51.2k
48 votes

Does the US spend more public money (i.e. tax/capita) on Health Care than other developed countries?

The level of state funded healthcare spending in the USA is similar to the levels of spend in comparable countries despite not covering the majority of the population Britain's Office of National ...
  • 55.4k
46 votes
Accepted

Are bodies stored in vacant rooms at Detroit hospital?

Yes, that appears to be the case -- The Detroit News first reported about Sinai-Grace Hospital's body-storage issues on April 9, several days before the CNN report with photos that you saw reposted on ...
  • 4,933
45 votes

Do 643,000 Americans go bankrupt every year due to medical bills?

But more striking is the fact that all of these other countries supposedly have no one going bankrupt from medical bills. Are these claims true? 0 is totally untrue for Germany. I first must ...
  • 559
41 votes
Accepted

Did the WHO have evidence of significant human-to-human transmission of SARS-CoV-2 prior to January 14, 2020?

The answer to this is going to opinion based to some extent. The WHO like everyone else was largely dependent on China for information at that point. Here's for example what the ECDC reported/...
  • 54.7k
37 votes

Can the SARS-CoV-2 virus float in the air for up to 3 hours?

Author's note, 11 July 2020: This answer was originally written in late March of 2020, at which point the coronavirus pandemic was, in many countries, far from its peak. In the intervening time, there ...
  • 11.1k
37 votes

Is hydroxychloroquine + zinc + antibiotics an effective treatment for COVID-19?

There is no perfect study yet, but the best evidence we have says HCQ doesn't work There are well-known rules for judging the quality of evidence in clinical studies. Since discussion this highly ...
  • 55.4k
34 votes
Accepted

Is this heart transplant denial letter from an insurance group?

The letter is from the Heart and Lung Clinic of Spectrum Health, a healthcare provider based out of Grand Rapids Michigan. It is not from either an insurance provider or a Medicaid group. In other ...
  • 56.7k
28 votes

Did "the UK court system abduct and murder a baby" with mitochondrial depletion syndrome?

The short answer is No. I don't understand the use of the words "abduct" and "murder" in the context except as hyperbole and the post seems to have at best a slim grasp of the facts. The court's ...
  • 2,034
27 votes
Accepted

Will 36,000 people die per year due to the repeal of the ACA?

My TL;DR summary is: there is too much uncertainty at this stage to know what the specific effect of an ACA repeal would be. The rest of this answer explains in more detail that: On the effect of ...
  • 10.2k
25 votes

Do doctors "get more money if somebody dies from Covid”?

Conflation. And oversimplification. But not completely untrue. Exact phrase is unfortunate and could be treated as 'no evidence for that'. "Doctors" paid directly for "cause of death ...
  • 43.7k
24 votes

Does wearing a face mask cause intermittent hypoxia?

The study gets off on the wrong foot with the unqualified and unsubstantiated claim that Covid-19 is the world's deadliest pandemic. There is some discussion about that in the previous question Did ...
  • 6,615
22 votes
Accepted

Is sexual assualt considered a pre-existing condition in the new US Health Care plan?

Tl;dr: the American Health Care Act of 2017 (AHCA) doesn't specifically consider sexual assault a pre-existing condition (PEC), (an unknown amount of) insurance companies consider (the consequences of)...
  • 3,836
21 votes
Accepted

Is it illegal for pharmacists to tell their patients that their drugs are cheaper than their co-pay if they pay cash without using their insurance?

There's a link in the article explaining the situation - see "gag clauses". Pharmacies negotiate contracts with benefit managers to set the prices of drugs and other terms regarding how they will be ...
20 votes

Do 643,000 Americans go bankrupt every year due to medical bills?

The "zero" part is exaggerated for greater effect. It's not accurate, and might even be considered a lie. People can always opt to pay for treatment their insurance does not cover. In some of these ...
  • 1,407
20 votes

Coronavirus - Is it safe to receive a package from China?

In an attempt to back up the WHO's claim but not using their data or statement. The 'Corona 2019' virus is a specific variant of the more general corona virus family. Further, this family is part of a ...
19 votes
Accepted

Does the US have the highest "natural" life expectancy?

It is highly dubious. This data comes from a 2006 book published by a conservative think tank, the American Enterprise Institute. The report is titled The Business of Health: The Role of Competition, ...
  • 13.4k
19 votes
Accepted

Does treating end stage kidney disease cost 1% of the United States federal budget?

Summary About 0.9% of the US federal spending goes to treatment of End Stage Kidney Disease. The most recent data available when the episode aired give a value of 0.94%, which could reasonably be ...
  • 3,176

Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible